Grey Haven

Don't talk to the other Ventrue.

Lena turns to Connell, Dahlia, and Katrina. “I have an errand to run. It will only take about 20 minutes. I can meet you guys somewhere.”

On the way to drop David off to hunt we will share information about what we saw/did/learned while apart. Once we are sitting there waiting while David murders a hooker. “Do any of you think you can figure out what’s in this box without opening it? Lena? Katrina?”

OOC: Technically, Vito said that he would know if you (Dahlia) opened it. This may indicate some kind of magical seal but since he used mental powers on Lena it may just mean that he can read Dahlia’s mind somehow to find out if she opened it. If it is the latter, then Lena can open it and not break the agreement. What does the box look like? How is it sealed? What are its dimensions?

Its about the size of a shoe box and weighs roughly three pounds. Its wrapped up in plan cardboard color paper, with a bow on it.

“I’m actually more worried about it maybe exploding or something. I’m sure that what’s in there isn’t nice… I just don’t know what sort of not nice it is.”

Connell: “We could just rip the damn thing open! I’m sure as hell not worried about insulting this sick fuck’s fine sensibilities. After what you discovered upstairs that Italian piece of shit is already on my list. …and if it’s a bomb it better sure as hell be a good one because if I manage to walk away from it I’mma rip his spine out through his asshole and make a Giovanni puppet out of him”

Katrina: OOC: Can I smell anything from the box with heightened senses, Chris? “Don’t be hasty – that would be foolish beyond measure. I realize that we are presssed for time, but we cannot risk opening the box without some idea of its contents. We especially cannot risk it here, where the masquerade can so easily be broken.”

OOC – Very Tremere. And no, there is no scent

Katrina: OOC: Thanks ;) Any sounds? Also, is there any magical aura on the box that I can detect with Auspex 2 or Thaumaturgy 3? Or my Occult training? I have Perception + Empathy of 5 dice, Willpower 8, and Intelligence + Occult of 7 dice.

David: While everyone is trying to mess with this box Daivd sits down and starts sewing UPS in back of his coat might as well look the part

No scents er smells. If you shake it, there is a slight amount of movement. Something shifts a few centimeters when forcibly forced back and forth.

Further magical assessment proves there is no thaumaturgical enchantment upon it. It does radiate a muffled gray aura of some sort of magic.

Katrina: “I cannot smell or hear anything from the box other than the scents of paper and string. The box does not have a Thaumaturgical aura, but I do see a stange magical aura in a pale shade of grey. It is most likely Giovanni necromancy.”

Dahlia: “I do not believe that we should deliver it to anyone without knowing what’s inside, and I do not believe that we should open it in any populated area or have it in any populated area at midnight. It’s 10:30 now, so my thought is that we take it out into the swamp somewhere and you open it from afar… the same way you move that belt around… is that possible?” and “Lena… I don’t think any of us should be alone tonight… or really at all until we figure out what is going on with the Court, the Giovanni, and the various mobs. Can your chore wait until later this evening when one or more of us can go with you?”

Lena looks at Dahlia. “Honestly, I do not see what difference even an hour would make to our investigation. Surely once the evening has progressed we would find ourselves in another predicament with barely time to return to our havens for rest. You all are free to go to the swamp and use Katrina’s telekinesis to peek at Vito’s ire. It isn’t clear that doing Vito this little favor will allow us to rid the mayor of the blackmail material. In fact,” she sighs heavily and shakes her head, “I am a little fearful of what we will find these photographs to portray. It is possible that our Prince’s colleague happens to derive sexual gratification from watching the suffering of others. I am already of two minds about this…” Lena trails off, and snickers at her own pun. “I suppose it is possible that the mayor simply had some relationship with Amber. The Dirt Merchant videos may have been produced to send to the mayor to produce fear and cooperation from him. Vito, or perhaps his boss, may want to show the mayor that the Prince cannot protect him, that they can get to the ones he is close to, even the ones no one is supposed to know about.” Lena pauses and looks at a tree nearby. “I’d really like to know whether the mayor is a disgusting predator or not before I go on helping his cause. I think maybe I will stop by work and see if he is a customer.”

Dahlia: “It’s not the investigation I worry about. I truly doubt that the Prince has set us along this line of inquiry simply because he wants a photograph. The number of ways he could have gotten such a thing from this girl before she died is mind boggling… the photo may not even exist. I suspect that our inquiries were meant to trigger something in such a way that the Prince and the court could deny any wrong doing, and I worry about your separation from the group because I fear that there are those who will try and harm us. Some one seems to be hunting me for some reason already. It may be nothing, or it may be the first sign of another player in this.”

Lena: “In that case, do you plan on being a pawn in their game, to go to the Domino Room and follow the path that is laid out before us? I suspect we will simply be swept away in the complex of agents and agendas. Without knowledge of what is really going on here we are powerless to truly act. We can only react.” Lena stares at the package, her eyes alight with anger. Her whole life was taken from her, and for what? To instigate some subterranean political conflict between people desperately clinging to their power? She places her hand under her navel and frowns, lips drawn, raging. “Fine. Let’s get going to the damn swamp. I’m feeling self-destructive.”

Dahlia: “I suspect the last group of fledgling to play this game played by the rules laid out for them, and died for their trouble. I have no intention of dying according to someone else’s rules… but we are operating in an information void. Since we don’t know what is going on or who’s information we can trust we need to stick together and keep our eyes and ears open….” “I am all for seeing what is in that box… what the hell is taking David so long?”OOC- I have an object to show your characters. It was the only thing Dahlia has of Amber’s that she didn’t recognize. Remind me of this at the game please? (while on her own Dahlia got Amber’s belongings from Butterfly)

For Chris: (from Dahlia)
Our plan (at the moment, and if I understand correctly)
1. Go into the swamp and open the box.
2. On the way there show everyone the thingy Dahlia has that Amber had that Dahlia didn’t recognize.
3. Deal with whatever happens when we open the box.
After that we might:
4. Go to the Domino room?
5. Go collect some corpses?
6. Go feed Oscar’s fish (fluffy?)?
But I doubt that things will work out that smoothly. I’m expecting the contents of the box to surprise us and make our unlives more difficult.

Lena: This sounds correct, except that feeding fluffy will be just Lena and maybe one other PC. Just bc I cannot think of a reason everyone would want to follow me around on such an errand.
Dahlia: I was thinking we could all go, pack fluffy in my trunk and you could take the entire tank home so as to not worry about this again.

David: going to the swamp is a bad idea, its been compromised fuck that fish who names a gold fish fluffy anyway, let him float belly up.

Dahlia: The swamp is huge. Like… The entire area around the city? How can that be compromised? And if you didn’t like the plan why didn’t you come back to the car and contribute?

David: i have been with you whole time, and anytime David trys to add to any of the decision makeing he is ignored

Dahlia OOC: You specifically said “I do not go back to the car”. We are sitting in the car. How can you be with us? From your posts I didn’t think you were trying to participate in the decision making. I thought you were sitting in some dark alley by yourself sewing a UPS logo onto the back of your coat.

David OOC: before we ended the game last week I said that i’m not getting back “IN” the car. and I’ve been trying participate in the decision makeing, but no one seems to care about what I have to say.I’ve been standing outside, next to your car this time.

David: What Think we should do, Is what I’ve been saying this whole time. We have a mission from our Prince. We need to complete that mission. and do whatever it takes (within the laws of the masquerade) to do so. Fuck all this running errands and shit. We are undead, We are powerful beings. I say we use that strength. If you all want to be a pawn your doing a great job of that as it is. but if you all want to make a name for yourself, well….. not so much.

Dahlia: “That is an incredibly shortsighted view, and I don’t even see how we could achieve it. Who or what do you propose we use our strength against? How do you propose that we maintain the masquerade while doing so? What do you think we should do with this box while ‘fucking all this running errands and shit’? When I asked for ideas and proposed my plan I was not asking for people’s world views. I was asking for a concrete set of action as far as what we should do next. I do not see any of that in your proposal mon compagnon idiote”

David OOC: Forgive me Trava (Dahlia’s player) you know that I love ya hun, but the only thing that I see that is shortsighted is your view that only your way will work. A)What to do about the box? If you want to see whats in the box, get out of your car, put it on your hood and open it. Its not a bomb… Its a message to someone. B) Right now, We dont need to concern ourselfs so much with Mob dealings unless said mob dealings interfer directly with our mission at hand. And I have yet to see any real proof that they do. C) The last few gameing sessions where we have tried to workout our plans and set of actions, when ever I have tried to speak up and say anything I am constantly talked over and any idea that I throw out is immediately dismissed D) If in our search of our goals, we have to brake any of the rules of the masquerade, I can think many ways that we can cover it up. thus maintaining the masquerade. (Yes I am aware of “OUR” fuck up in the swamp with the FBI agent) however fixing said fuck up is more imporant right now to maintain the masquerade (as orderd by our prince) than running stupid errands for a Giovanni none the less… E) Our first order of business should and always be upholding the Masquerade. and takeing care of the bodies in the morgue!!!

Katrina OOC: … I already determined that the bodies were in the hands of the regional FBI team, in New Orleans. So, are you suggesting that we leave behind all the rest of our potential problems and invade another prince’s territory to try and get into an FBI-run morgue to take care of those bodies? And Denny, we aren’t immediately dismissing every idea that you come up with just because you come up with it. I have listened to every thing that you have said, and the reason that I have “dismissed” it is because I do not agree with any of your ideas or suggestions thus far. I have absolutely no idea to recover the picture, because the last lead that we had was to find Amber herself, and we found her dead body in Vito Giovanni’s warehouse, and Vito claimed that he did not have her effects and that she was dropped off, but we do not know who dropped us off. The only other lead we had was that Ellum and Cage visited the gas station and asked for Amber’s purse before we did, so for all we know, they have had the picture this whole time and we are on a wild goose chase anyway. The fact that the last set of new childer did not survive their testing should make it obvious to you that there is more to this situation than the (what seemed to be) simple task of recovering a photograph of the mayor with a stripper, and I think that you are being completely short sighted. Also, as both a player and a PC, I absolutely do not suggest that we open Vito’s box anywhere that the public can see. I don’t think that it is a bomb, but I am positive that it is affected by necromantic magic, and only a complete idiot would open a box full of necromancy on the street in front of dozens of human witnesses. AGH, and we do not know who dropped her off (as in Amber), so we don’t know who might have her stuff.

David OOC?: Never mind, just do what ever and I’ll come along for the ride.

Dahlia OOC: Dude. Dahlia JUSTASKEDDAVID to present her with some other line of inquiry. I’m guessing that you want him to say "we go after the bodies, now, toss that box in a dumpster or some shit and lets move, but one of the problems you are having with us completely dismissing your suggested plans of action is that (as far as I am aware) you haven’t actually presented one. I laid out exactly what I think we should do next. I am asking you to do the same. What, exactly, are you proposing that we do next?

Katrina OOC: If you actually have a specific plan for how to get into the FBI morgue in New Orleans and get the agent’s body, or how to recover the photograph – as in where to go or who to talk to or what to look for, I’d love to hear it, but I don’t have any idea how to do either of those things right now, so I abandoned them as options until I acquire further data.

Dahlia OOC: I’m with Monica. I haven’t got the faintest idea of where to go next as far as the picture and I have only vague idea of how to handle getting the bodies back. If you have some plan I want to hear it.

David OOC? Ic?: The FBI agent is not the only body that we have to worry about for one. We also are suppose to clear up the other bodies. Yes the FBI agent being in another city is a problem, however we do still have our orders. As far as Amber goes (did anyone take pics) she has to have friends, if someone did in fact drop her off then we need to find that person next. I say we go ruff up venny and get what info we need from him and cut threw the bullshit. he know way more than hes going to tell us unless he has something to lose. and the same goes for anyone else who gets in our way.

Dahlia: (Venny?) “Do you mean Vito? The Giovanni mob boss with a dozen goons, two of whom were hard for us to handle? The one who completely dominated Lena without any effort? The one everyone in the court has been warning us to stay away from? You want to start a war with him over information he may or may not have, may or may not give us, and almost certainly will lie about after trashing our asses? How could we possibly trust anything he said even if we got him to talk? Do you have some power that enables you to force people to tell the truth?”

Katrina OOC: My notes indicate that all of the bodies are in the possession of the FBI at their morgue at the field office in New Orleans and the investigation is headed by Officer Lundy. The Prince told us that acquiring the picture is first base, acquiring the bodies is second base and he implied that there was a third base, but did not indicate what that base was. We already spoke to Amber’s roommate/bff at the Forbidden Fruit. One of the only people that we know is associated with Amber that we have not spoken to (I believe) is her boyfriend Eddy, so that’s really the only other option we have as far as contacts of Amber’s. We are almost positive that Eddie Bohn is also tied in with some branch of the Mob. I don’t know if anyone would know who dropped Amber off, since Amber is too dead for us to ask and I don’t think that Vito had a camera out front to review (if he would even let us). Who is Venny? If by “Venny,” you mean Vito, what makes you think that we have the skills to take on Vito Giovanni? He is at least 100 years old. Even if you count our mortal lives, none of us are older than 40, and not a single one of us has even been a vampire for a year.Trying to beat the shit out of anyone who gets in our way is a bad idea for two very obvious reasons: 1. Only two members of our party are combatants. All 3 females have largely non-combat skills and Disciplines. 2. We are neonates. We are peons. We will be lucky to win any fight against an older vampire or vampires, and every fight we get into ends up filling the area around us with collateral damage, including dead mortals, particularly mortals dead in ways that break the masquerade. Using our Disciplines in any public place to win a fight breaks the masquerade. Starting a fight of any kind is liable to break the masquerade because of who and what we are.

David: No not him, I have the wrong name, my bad, the guy that we cleaned up the underage hooker for.

Katrina: You think we should beat up Freddie Pertucci?

David: I didn’t say beat him up, I said ruff him up, Yes Freddie Pertucci, Thank you you and ruff someone up without laying a hand on them. One idea I have for him is useing the dead underage hooker against him. Who have a good sudterfuge?

Katrina: Mara already used the dead underage hooker against him, to get him to give us the information about Vito’s boss, the actual head of the Italian Mob, and the fact that the mob boss eats dinner every Thursday evening at The Vine and that tonight he is entertaining a special guest from New Orleans. Saying that you want to “rough somebody up” regardless of the spelling implies that you want to use force or the threat of force or pain to make someone talk, usually by hitting and kicking them a lot. Maybe it’s just me, but that’s how I use the term… Dahlia has the best subterfuge, if it is relevant.

Dahlia OOC: Lena had an in-depth with Freddie at the end of the last game. While I don’t think we have every bit of information he knows about anything, I’m fairly sure we know everything he knows about Amber. He didn’t take her to the warehouse, just gave her the business card and an address. I suspect Left-over knows quite a bit about her financial woes, and may know the location of her necklace, but I doubt he was the one who dropped her off at the warehouse. She was likely with a client, trying to make her money the old fashioned way and went to the warehouse because that wasn’t working or because her John was a vamp and told her to. Sending a girl to Vito would be a good way to get rid of her when you were done with her.

Katrina: You also suggested that her boyfriend Eddie might have dropped her off, Trava. So there is that possibility, particularly if Eddie is a part of the Italian mob like all the other guys whose names end in an “ee” sound (Joey, Tommy, Freddie, Frankie, Sammy…)

Dahlia: Yes. Eddy may have dropped her off, and Eddy may be attached to the mob, though the fact that he was looking so hard for her would seem to indicate that he either 1 didn’t know what Vito does at that warehouse, 2 isn’t associated with Vito or 3 had no clue that Amber went to Vito. Also, Eddy gave Oscar the creeps, and Oscar had almost certainly spoken to a huge number of creepy people… this indicates a bit of supernatural heritage to me… Perhaps Werewolves? We know there are some around. Basically, almost anyone could have dropped her off, Anime Guy, Eddy, the gook who works at the Vine, someone we haven’t even heard of yet. I went back over Amber’s stuff with Chris and I don’t have a day planner or anything. I could hit up Butterfly again, see if she knew any of Amber’s ‘clients’ and what she was doing on the day in question, since we now know more specifics… but I think I’ve gotten everything I she had out of her already. It’s kind of a long shot idea.

David: again, you guys can just do whatever, and i’ll come along for the ride… if thats what makes everyone happy then fine. thats what I’ll do

Dahlia: Come up with an alternative plan of action even a vague one. We go to the Morgue. David and Lena skulk about and identify the poor sop mortuary assistant who is on midnights. Dahlia isolates and Presences him into telling us all about security and where the bodies are. We take that information and use it to commit grand theft corpse… Something we can work with.

Vito's warehouse

The party all woke up to the sounds of their phones ringing. Mentors and Sires ordered them to watch the news, and each neonate saw the coverage of a body dropped in the middle of a downtown intersection. The body turned out to be that of the FBI agent that the party had killed and left for the gators in the swamp the night before, except the gunshot wounds to his head were repaired and his body was drained of blood (with two puncture wounds to the neck). It seems that even killing James Bishop of missing persons hadn’t made him into less of a problem.

Summoned by the Prince, they went immediately to his mansion. Lena and Connell filled Dahlia in on the events of the night before while she drove. Katrina was allowed into the Mansion with no hassle whatsoever, despite having never visited before. Nailz applauded their entrance while the rest of the guests tried to pretend things were normal. Katrina recognized the man previously referred to as Distinguished Beard – Garrett Reed, a Tremere and one of the Harpies. David confronted the Tremere Harpy and vented about the bodies he’d disposed of. Dahlia cringed inside and threw her focus into playing the piano… the mindless comfort of a childhood activity. Talisman had ears only for Dahlia’s playing, and Timmy gave Lena a picture that he drew for her. Lena peered at the auras of Timmy and Mr. Buttons and found that Mr. Buttons had no aura, while Timmy’s aura was brown with sparkles of violet that swirled into the brown. Timmy’s aura had very faint black tendrils.

The party was lead into an empty theater room with four rows of five seats. The room was very empty with a library-like feel. Katrina sensed that someone was obfuscated in the room. In the Prince’s private movie theater, the party was treated to a slide show of everyone who died at the Full Moon Saloon or afterwards. The Prince seemed uninformed about the Sabbat activities. The fledgling were dressed down for the violence and assigned extra tasks in punishment for their perceived responsibility. Specifically, Prince Philipe told the party that retrieving the photo of Amber with the mayor was first base, getting the bodies out of the morgue was second base, and he implied that there was a third base, but did not detail what that might be. He also informed the party that killing people and causing the mess at the Full Moon Saloon was strike one.

After the lecture, Dahlia spoke to Spencer (Anime Guy), the Ventrue Harpy, about Vito and found out that Spencer had been tailing Amber before her disappearance. Katrina spent some time speculating about what might have caused the change in the body of the FBI agent. She determined that Vissicitude, the Tzimisce fleshcrafting discipline, could have been used to smooth away the wounds on the agent’s head, and Vissicitude could have been used to place the puncture holes and the body could have been drained manually for some reason.

Alexis displayed what might be multiple personality disorder when she completely did not remember what happened at the Full Moon Saloon the night before. Her emotional state was totally different, as evidenced by her aura. Alexis told the party that the Samoan guy that knew her and Nailz was called Headache. She also said that the Prince, our sires, Julian, Agatha and Garrett were having a meeting before we arrived. All of the highest court members went to a meeting with their Prince, presumably back to the meeting they had already been having. Dahlia let the rest of the party know that Nailz was a Sabbat defector. Katrina wondered when he defected and where he came from, before he moved to Grey Haven. She also wondered why he defected, and pointed out to the rest of the party that the Sabbat violently hate defectors, and we should expect the two Sabbat to target Nailz. If they do not, it is suspicious, and perhaps Nailz is not truly a defector after all.

Katrina spoke to Officer Ryan, a friend of hers on the Grey Haven police force while Dahlia drove the party to her place to discuss plans. Katrina discovered that the FBI had possession of the corpses that party had been tasked with retrieving and that special agent Lundy was now in charge of the case. The FBI morgue is at the field office in New Orleans. Officer Ryan mentioned that there were 6 or 7 FBI agents on the case. After discussing their leads and their options, the party decided to go to Vito Giovanni’s warehouse in search of Amber’s trail.

The party traveled to Warehouse 138, supposedly belonging to Vito Giovanni. Outside of the warehouse, the grounds were littered with bums, garbage dumpsters full of sheets and blankets stained with every human fluid, and more bums. “This is an area where crime happens,” quoth the GM. We went up a short metal staircase that led to the most obviously used doorway of the 2 story building. Lena (bravely) knocked on the door, which was answered by a guy in a shitty JC Penny suit. He had an orange aura streaked with red, humanly bright.

The suited good mistook Lena for the evening’s talent, and she boldly stepped into the snuff film-making warehouse and proclaimed herself to be the talent that the suit guy was looking for. He believed her. David snuck into the room under the cover of his Obfuscate. Vito Giovanni came out and looked Lena over, then bitched about how there were supposed to be two girls. Dahlia, much more hesitantly, knocked and pretended to be blond girl number two. Vito and Joey seemed to buy their story. Vito gave each girl 1000 dollars. The two “men” left the front room, then Joey came back alone and giving off vibes of suspicion.

Joey told Lena and Dahlia to follow him into the back. Connell entered the room as Joey and the girls exited. He told them to get dressed and said to surprise him. The room contained two fire barrels, a set of lockers, and a 20 × 15 tarp that was sloshing weirdly. The first locker contained a cheap nun costume with consisting of a habit and wimple. The second locker contained a worn white t-shirt, used Hello Kitty panties and a pair of crocs (the shoes). The third locker was empty. The fourth locker contained three orange prison-style jumpsuits. The fifth locker contained a pile of clown masks. The sixth locker contained a mop and bucket. The bucket was rancid, filled with acidic grossness, potentially stomach contents. Lena tried to put the nun outfit on over her clothes, and Joey pulled a gun on them and told Lena to put the nun outfit on the right way. Dahlia tried to charm Joey, but he didn’t seem to fall for her charm. Dahlia put on the used panties and Lena put on the nun outfit.

Outside, another goon (Tommy) pulled up in a black car. He walked to to the top of the stairs and almost dropped his bags of food at the sight of Katrina standing on the landing. Katrina managed to pull a fast one, convincingly acting nervous and apologizing for being there. Katrina convinced Tommy that she was there for a movie, and apologized for showing up at an inconvenient time. She asked Tommy if she was there on the correct night. Tommy bought her story and her nervous act and let her in. Connell managed to hide behind a large crate, while David remained Obfuscated. Tommy invited Katrina to sit down and soon started massaging her shoulders, trying to make her less nervous. Tommy flirted with Katrina, who fed him french fries and further convinced him of her innocence. Katrina read Tommy’s aura and found that he had a bright blue aura, indicative of calmness, but it contained pulsing red tendrils. The pulsing red tendrils told Katrina that Tommy was a ghoul, which made her suspect that Joey was also a ghoul.

Vito came back down the stairs and asked if there was anything the girls “wouldn’t do”. Lena stated that she wouldn’t do animals. Vito angrily flung back the tarp and showed that underneath was a mucky, fetid pool filled with alligators and the mixed body parts of various young women. He said that if Lena didn’t want to play with animals, she will do as he says, and then Vito dominated Lena into vomiting out her blood pool onto the floor.

Vito laughed and walked back up the stairs while Lena was vomiting. Just seconds after Vito disappeared, Lena frenzied and attacked Joey. Connell exploded into the room to help her, immediately grabbing Joey and holding him down for Lena. The two subdued Joey, and Lena fed from him until she regained control. Katrina somehow managed to convince Tommy that she was innocent and frightened when Lena began to frenzy and Connell jumped out from behind the box and ran into the other room. David suddenly appeared and fired a shot at Tommy. Logically, this pissed Tommy off and he fired right back. Katrina, still pretending to be frightened in the corner, used Movement of the Mind to pull Tommy’s belt from his pants. She used the belt to drop Tommy’s pants and impede his movements.

Sammy, another of Vito’s ghouls, came down from the upper floor of the warehouse and shot at Connell. Joey ghoul-Dominated Connell into letting go of him and managed to run away from Lena and Connell. The big Gangrel leaped over the railing and up onto the stairs in a dramatic fashion, landing in the perfect way to punch Sammy right in the gut. Lena, unable to control her frenzy, chased after Joey. She jumped on him again and grabbed his face. Dahlia ran up the stairs and intervened, taking Sammy’s gun and using her amazing Presence to lure him back to the upper floor for a conversation. Dahlia disappeared upstairs with her new friend Sammy, who wanted to “protect her” from the combat below. Connell quickly ran back downstairs and held Joey down for Lena. Lena finally controlled her rage and suddenly began to administer first aid to Joey, who was very confused by her actions. Joey tried to punch Lena and missed, and Lena convinced Joey to toss his gun away. Joey threw his gun into the gator pond, his emotions softened by Lena’s Dementation.

Back in the front room, David and Tommy continued their gun-battle. David aimed for Tommy’s head, but instead hit him in the shoulder. Katrina used her magically animated belt to lock the deadbolt and seal the outside door so that Tommy could not escape. Tommy, on his back, reached up to try to pull open the door and escape from David, but found himself trapped. Katrina used the belt to strap Tommy to the door handle, effectively trapping Tommy in the room while still pretending to be innocent and frightened. Tommy fired a weak shot at David and missed. David ignored the meal that Katrina had strapped down for him, deciding instead of burn more blood for even greater strength. David used his blood-fueled strength to smash his foot through Tommy’s throat. Tommy’s throat exploded, showering the area around the door with blood and flesh. David went batshit, frenzying at the sight of Tommy’s blood. Katrina’s false fear soon became very, very real.

Upstairs with Sammy, Dahlia found three curtained off areas that Sammy called studios. One studio contained two children – one a 12 year old girl and one a 13 year old Hispanic boy. Both were chained to a wall, bleeding and feebly whimpering. On the ground were pool cues, broom handles, and a big guy in an orange jumpsuit who was wearing a clown mask and holding a bloody broom handle. In another studio was Amber’s corpse. Amber’s head had been smashed in with a fireplace poker.

Dahlia and Sammy talked about business while the battled raged downstairs. Eventually, Sammy took Dahlia in to meet his boss. Vito was sitting between two more ghouls (Gino and Frankie). Dahlia attempted to bargain for Amber’s worldly goods, but Vito gave her nothing (except the wonderful line “I don’t come to your place of business and slap the dick out of your mouth, now do I?”), saying that Amber had been dropped of on his doorstep with nothing but the Kimono she was wearing. As part of their unfortunate deal, Vito gave Dahlia a box to deliver to Patty (Patrick), the bartender at the Domino Room. It was to be delivered by midnight with the message “I’m very sorry that I missed your daughter’s birthday. I hope this present makes up for it. Sorry about that thing outside the church in Belfast. No hard feelings.” She was told to make sure that he opened it, and also told that if she remembered the look on Patty’s face when he saw the contents and reported that look back to Vito he would tell her who had ordered the video that Amber had starred in. Dahlia was told not to open the package under any circumstances and that Vito would know about it if she did.

Back downstairs, David attempted to ride his frenzy, blowing willpower to destroy a crate rather than attacking Katrina. Connell screamed at Katrina to run back into the alligator locker room, then ran around to the far side of the alligator pond. Lena continued to patch up Joey the Ghoul. Katrina ran into the other room and hid behind the lockers. David managed to stagger into the alleyway rather than follow Katrina and Connell. Lena used passion to further calm Joey, then David busted into the alligator room from outside. David was furious, fuming and clawing at the doorway. Katrina used blood magic to lower her generation in case she quickly needed to run from David. Lena used Passion on David to help calm him, and David managed to stumble back into the alleyway and around the corner. Connell followed David, but the now-calm David refused help. He wandered randomly around the warehouse district, looking for something more appetizing than a rat to eat. He found a strange symbol spray-painted onto a sign, and shortly thereafter had a conversation with what was possibly Timmy’s ‘Rag Man’… the one the party was asked not to talk to… the one who might be a Samedi. The man wore a black hat and had very strong power over the darkness in the alley. He called himself Obama when David claimed that his name was Daniel. He did not seem to be fond of David. When David later rejoined the party, he did not inform them about his conversation with the strange man.

After a moment, Katrina dashed up the stairs, knowing that Dahlia has been alone up there for too long. Katrina enhanced her senses and smelled excrement, viscera, and dried blood. Since none of it was fresh, Katrina was reasonably sure that Dahlia wasn’t dead somewhere behind one of the curtains. Katrina heard the Peanuts-esque murmur of voices behind the solid door and determined that she heard two voices, one higher and one lower. Katrina deduced that one voice was probably Dahlia’s, and since she could hear no sounds of combat, no thuds or screams, Katrina began exploring the “studios.” Katrina found the two children, now dead, Amber’s corpse, and she also saw that the other “studio” contained two dead college aged girls as well as plastic tubing, clorox bleach, and various other wierdnesses. Dahlia suddenly slammed out of the room, leaving her meeting with Vito and jarring Katrina’s heightened senses. Katrina quickly took a few shots of Amber’s corpse and viscera with her cell phone, then followed Dahlia down the stairs.

Still outside, Connell found the same emblem that David found spray painted to the sign, except his was etched into the brick above the dumpster outside of Vito’s warehouse. Dahlia and Lena cleaned up and changed back into their own clothes. Dahlia gathered up the Kimono, hidden behind the nun costume, that Amber supposedly wore to the warehouse and a bathrobe from a hotel. Lena pulled a stack of papers from the burn barrel, and Katrina later determined that they were a middle school history textbook. Dahlia, Lena, Katrina and Connell gathered back around Dahlia’s car and tried to contact David.

Lena called David first. David hung up on her. Katrina then called him. He talked to Katrina for a moment, but eventually hung up on her too, and then sent her a picture of his location. They drove to pick him up. As he climbed into the car, his danger sense went off. He yelled a warning to Dahlia who threw the car into reverse and stood on the gas petal. The car jerked, but didn’t move… as if something had lifted the tires from the ground. It jerked again, slammed down and suddenly she was struggling to control its motion. David’s sense of danger did not fade as they drove to the club district so that he could feed.

He left the party by himself, refusing any company, and conned a hooker into following him into a manhole. He proceeded to kill her while the others discussed their plans for the rest of the evening. While David was killing his hooker, Connell did a thorough mechanical investigation of the car and Katrina did a thorough supernatural investigation of the car, and neither of them could find any reason for David’s danger sense.

Lena called Freddie Pertucci and got him to tell her that the real mob boss of the Giovanni/Italian mob was a (vampire) man named Vincenzo Strassi, who hangs out at an Italian restaurant called “The Vine” (that he owns) every Thursday. Vito’s boss was apparently going to entertain a very special guest from New Orleans tonight (which happens to be a Thursday). Freddie told Lena that the cook at The Vine was a Gook.

Dahlia called her sire to ask what she should do with Vito’s box/The Domino Room and Olivia was deliberately NOT helpful, and even told Dahlia that she could not help her.

Connell, David, Lena, and Katrina entered the Full Moon Saloon expecting a bit of trouble. They had come there to do a favor for Freddie Pertucci in exchange for information. The assignment was to confront Conner Burns, a kid who owed Freddie money on a gambling debt, and either get his money for him or rough him up.

As the motley crew entered the saloon, their eyes settled on “cell phone guy,” a man who had been engrossed in his cell phone at the last establishment, the Forbidden Fruit. The party had also seen “cell phone guy” at Club Pulse. At the Forbidden Fruit, he sounded as thought he was talking to his girlfriend. At Club Pulse, he appeared to have been playing Angry Birds. He seemed to be talking to the girlfriend again at the Full Moon Saloon. Lena read his bright, mortal aura as primarily consisting of lavender that faded out into yellow at the edges. Occasionally, rhythmically, the lavender flickers into a bright orange and back. Katrina noted that lavender indicated a conservative person, while yellow could mean fear if it were a sickly yellow or idealism if it were a blazing yellow. The flashes of orange, however, indicated fear, which seemed at odds with the cell phone guy’s calm demeanor.

The team moves on to the quarry: Conner Burns, a La Crosse student from LSU visiting Grey Haven for the summer. Lena and Connell confront him but he ignores them, focusing instead on the game. Lena asks who his bookie is but Conner claims that the bet that he has placed on the current game is simply between friends. He gestured toward the table that had been recently vacated in favor of another one farther away from Connell. Conner Burns was in possession of a poopy brown aura, dripping of bitterness but not vampire pale. While Conner was conversing (bitching at) Lena and Connell, Katrina noticed that he had a pin on his pocket of a shamrock – the symbol of the local Irish Mob. Conner stated several times that his dad owned a dealership and could cause trouble for us if we caused trouble for him, and Katrina suspected his entire family of mob ties. Katrina also came to the conclusion (and later announced to the group) that she thought that it was likely that Freddie Pertucci, being Italian in nature, might have ties to the Italian mob in New Orleans, increasing the likelihood of rivalry with the Irish mob and Conner’s family. Katrina later noticed that Conner had a gun – he was definitely not just a college kid.

David swipes Conner’s money clip (later revealed to hold a mere $123) and walks away. Lena attempts to talk things out with Conner, but the frat boy continued to give her nothing. Connell becomes impatient and roughs him up a little, but the kid seems to have little information. Since the money the kid had on him was already taken, Connell walks away, towards David, and Lena follows suit.

The bartender at the Full Moon Saloon was the same as the one at the Mansion from earlier that evening, the girl the party thought was probably Nailz’s girlfriend. Here, though, her manner was courteous and professional, at least to David, while at the Mansion she was rough and rude. Lena reads her a bit later as a hypnotic swirl of vermilion. When asked later, Katrina confirmed that vermilion indicated happiness, a strange odds with the bartender’s earlier behavior.

In the back of the Full Moon Saloon we notice the cowgirl and a man with a cigar as being those who had visited the gas station before us. The aura of Cowgirl vamp — Ellum — gave off a faint reading of royal purple with streaks of crimson flowing through it like a stream. Thousands of black veins of chaos bubble throughout her aura. The cowgirl came up to the bar next to Katrina and ordered drinks for a group of girls playing pool. Katrina recognized the girls from Club Pulse, and one in particular was her student. While Ellum was at the bar, Katrina saw that on the inside of her right palm was an insignia shaped like a crescent moon. Katrina identified this marking as thaumaturgical. This blood magic marking was placed there to identify Ellum as a member of the “Black Hand”: a powerful, militant subgroup of Sabbat. Ellum’s aura reading indicated aggression, perhaps some kind of lust and more diablerie than Katrina had ever seen before. Later, Katrina realized that she could not see Ellum’s reflection in the bar mirror, indicating that Ellum was a Lasombra, the clan of shadow.

Cigar man — Cage — was by all accounts a thin biker dude. His aura was dim as well, dominated by a light blue that faded into a pale yellow, reminiscent of the wallpaper at the Bates Motel. Katrina could tell that the light blue implied that Cage was very calm, but she was uncertain as to the meaning of the yellow shade. Yellow is difficult to interpret. The black tendrils spread out in his aura were many, although not nearly as many as those of Ellum, but still indicated Cage was also a diablerist. Cage wore a denim vest and biker boots, had a bit of ethnic in him. As David tried to exit the Full Moon Saloon, Cage stopped him with a hand to the chest. The two went back and forth, David trying to remove Cage’s hand and Cage refusing to allow it, but never saying anything to David, no matter how much David yelled at him. It was later revealed that Cage had no tongue.

Inside the bar, Ellum talked with Katrina. The two went back and forth, mincing words in a contest where nobody won and Katrina was very stupid. Instead of being appropriately manipulative, she revealed that she had some level of fondness for the human girl Tammy, while trying to get Ellum to go light on Tammy and focus on the other two girls. Katrina obviously had no idea what kind of violence the two Sabbat would get into. Ellum told Katrina that she had better get outside and help her boy (David), declaring that Cage would give him “a new hole to shit through.”

Calm guy at the end of the bar who stares at Connell gives a very intense aura off to Katrina, who reads him as vibrant, bright rainbow of myriad colors. The aura was so bright that Katrina almost fell off her bar stool. She had never seen anything like it and could not identify his species nor his emotional state.

As a fight begins to break out between David and Cage, Connell and Lena line up to also exit the Full Moon Saloon. Lena reads Cage’s demeanor as entertained, but calm. The bartender frantically begins dialing the phone as shots were fired, and people begin to relocate themselves to the back of the bar.

Cage, Lena, Connell, David take the fight outside. Some posturing ensues. Moving with vampiric Celerity, Cage melds Davids hand to Connell’s face. The two rapidly part ways. David draws his pistol while the Gangrel extends his claws. Cage quickly zooms to the street and plucks a parking meter from the curb, that rapid proceeds to slam the business end of it into the face of a passing bar patron. The girl has her face rendered concave, dying on impact as she careened through the air before finally crashing into the front entrance of the Saloon. David pops of three shoots, landing only one, sending Cage reeling one or two steps. Connell gives chase and opens up a nasty claw wound across his face. Cage, kinda impressed, wholly disregards the attack, and proceeds to send the parking meter clear through the torso of the other passerby. This caused his chest to explode and collapse in a pile of mangle viscera on the pavement. David, relentless, managed to sink two shots into Cage this time, though he heard the lead hit the pavement as the wounds rapidly closed. Since Cage remains emotionally calm throughout his attack, Lena intensifies his emotional state in an effort to make him sloppy. The tactic proved useful as it bought time for Connell to score a nasty blow, spilling out a wealth of Cage’s insides via a brutal rend. David, ever giving chase, lets three more shots go, all of them sail wide of Cage’s doge. He did however manage to take out a driver who just happened to be turning the corner, killing him instantly. The car slammed off others and careened up onto the curb. Cage used this opportunity to flip the vehicle and take cover behind it.

In the meantime, Katrina realized that Ellum has disappeared with Tammy. She went looking for them, and found Tammy slumped in the far corner of the bar, out of sight of any of the patrons. with resignation, Katrina approached Tammy’s body, expecting the girl to be dead. She realized upon a quick aura inspection that Tammy had actually be turned and was about to become a baby vampire. Katrina’s first reaction was to taste Tammy’s blood, and she determined that Tammy’s generation upon becoming wholly a vampire would be 9th, indicating that Ellum must be an 8th generation vampire. Tammy’s clan would have been Lasombra, which finalized Katrina’s deduction of Ellum’s clan.

A frenzied newly-minted naked vampire pops out of a trunk and attacks Lena, biting into her left tricep. She manages to dodge him enough to prevent most of the damage, then reaches into his mind to calm his frenzy. The naked figure squats down against the outer wall of the bar in calm, docile embarrassment. A second frenzied vamps pops out and is parted like the Red Sea by Connell who had come over to assist the defenseless Malk. Shortly thereafter, several shadowy tendrils grab hold off the bulky Gangrel and hoist him into the air, slamming him down on the tin roof of the bar.

David continues to give chase, managing to score a few more shots as Ellum pulls up the getaway car. Ever an asshole, Cage launches himself high into the air and pounces on the over turned car with authority, pancaking it, and surely smooshing the surviving passenger.

Katrina called her sire, Sahari, to report the newly made Lasombra vampire and request permission to destroy the childe for the safety of everyone in the bar (and in the city). Sahari began to panic as Katrina informed her of the damage the two Sabbat were causing and the rising body count. She told Katrina that she was calling Nailz and that the group should leave the area immediately. She also gave Katrina permission to end the childe. As quickly as possible, before Tammy could fully Turn, Katrina bent forward and drained her of her last remaining blood point and put her peacefully into final sleep. The experience was heart-wrenching for Katrina. Then she proceeded to shove Tammy’s body and herself out the window, hopping into the parking lot where she could see the horrific damage.

Nailz and the big Samoan-looking tattooed guy quickly arrived in a Hummer. Katrina saw, in the distance, that the Samoan guy had a pale pink vampiric aura, indicating (oddly enough) that his dominant emotion was compassion. Nailz killed Scott, the first frenzied vampire, like he did Lena’s sire. Ellum used a shadow power to get a nearly double-dead Cage into her vehicle and drive off. Katrina asked Nailz (angering him of course) what she should do with Tammy’s body, and he told her that since Tammy had no bullet wounds and didn’t match the other bodies, it was Katrina’s responsibility to dispose of it. The party climbs into the Taurus and drove off, while the stringy-haired calm guy in the bar continued to watch Connell, calmly, eerily.

On the way to dispose of the body of the college girl in the trunk, Freddie called Lena. He was in a panic. Since his location was on the way to visit the gator, we stopped at his dingy motel. David stayed in the car while Lena, Connell, and Katrina went up the stairs to see what Freddie’s problem was. Soon, the three learned that Freddie had managed to meat hook an Asian hooker named Tina. Lena assured Freddie that we will “take care of his problem”, in exchange for the name of Freddie’s boss. The fact that Freddie had called us, of all people, implied to Katrina that he might know that we were vampires.

Freddie divulged that two weeks ago, he had put Amber in touch with Leftover. Amber was a top earner with some expensive habits. Leftover supplied her with some self-medications: perhaps her weed, ecstasy, and coke on the weekends. Some six to eight days ago, a casting call was put out for a classy busty brunette to participate in a certain exclusive line of adult entertainment videos.

Freddie’s boss — Vito Giovanni — seems to be a nice family man from Jersey who owned the cinematographic establishment — Dirt Merchant Entertainment — as a side business. The studio is located at Warehouse 138. Freddie said that they ask for 3-4 girls per week. Katrina told the group that Vito “The Violin” Giovanni was a former mob enforcer from Chicago who made himself famous during the Prohibition era by killing 72 people with violin strings. Vito supposedly has a tattoo of a musical note to commemorate each victim. Vito supposedly serves clientele with “specialized tastes.” Dirt Merchant Entertainment is the parent company of a handful of strip clubs and a porn production business. Since Vito made his name so many years ago, it was obvious that he must be a vampire. Katrina specified that he was obviously a vampire of Clan Giovanni, an independent, non-Camarilla clan that specializes in necromancy (the most disgusting of magical arts, she declared).

Katrina told the party that she suspected that Freddie was a necrophiliac, which would explain both the dead hooker that Freddie fucked for at least an hour before “noticing that she was dead” and Freddie’s relationship to a Giovanni vampire. Because of this, Lena left the greasy bastard with some dark, self-loathing thoughts to look forward to.

With Tina the dead hooker wrapped in a shower curtain and the college girl both in the trunk, the party drove on to deliver the goods to their old pal the gator. While there, Lena and Katrina noticed a man snapping pictures from the swamp. Connell and David spotted him on Katrina’s signal. Katrina recognized him as the party’s stalker, cell phone guy, based on his aura. He was taking pictures of Connell carrying bodies into the swamp. A chase ensued, and resulted in the lead-induced permanent coma of the mortal. A search of his body revealed an FBI badge. Unfortunately, he was far too dead to question. The party dumped the FBI agent into the bayou with Tammy and Tina.

Each of the party returned to their home base for an intense fifteen hours of sleep. They were suddenly awakened by the sounds of their phones. On the other end of the line was the sire of each of the party (except Lena, who hears Talisman). They were told to watch the news broadcast, which showed the body of the FBI agent that David had killed in the bayou and the party had dumped there for the gators. Apparently, the body was found at the intersection of Garden and Royale, far away from the bayou! The body had distinct puncture wounds and had been drained of blood. It still possessed the gunshot wounds to the head. The party did not drain the body of blood, and what vampire would take the blood of a dead body? The party was summoned to the Mansion immediately.

Dahlia will lay out what she knows of the conflict between the Princes of Grey Haven and New Orleans (available in OP) to point out that as far as she can see the one who most benefits from taking down mayor scumbag is the NO Prince.

She’ll also bring up cigar guy and cow girl (from Oscar’s gas station). They are probably Vampires and probably not from GH. NO makes the most sense as their place of origin, but if NO had the girl vamps from there would probably not be looking for her.

K: “The two vampires from the gas station could be from Miami. The Sabbat surely have interests in which city in Louisiana has more influence over the state, just as much as the two Princes would,” Katrina replies thoughtfully.

The hoody guy, likely Eddie Bohn, is also looking for her. This likely means that he doesn’t have her right now either.

Vinnie and Freddie seem like the kinda of guys who have mob ties. Our Prince has some hold over the local Irish mob. the NO Prince has some control over the Italian mob. This leads me to preivious suspicions of NO, or the thought that our own Prince could already have her and this first quest is nothing more than an attempt to quantify our abilities.

Leftover interests me, as does his drummer side kick. Tell me more about him.

Lena squeezes her delicate frame through the narrow alleyway and back out onto the sidewalk. Strands of loose hair cling to her neck, still wet from the frantic rinsing in the campground bathroom, unable to dry anyway in this sticky sludge of a night. She waits for everyone else to come out from the alley and proceeds to walk back in the car. She walks silently, sullenly, watching her shoes as she puts one foot in front of the other. When her companions arrive at the cars, they discuss where to go next and who should ride with whom. Lost in her own thoughts, Lena sits in the back seat of Dahlia’s vehicle, staring off into the depths of the back of the passenger seat.

K: “I don’t know very much about Leftover,” Katrina admits, with a faint hint of frustration in her voice. “The other boy is named Justin. He is a music major at Grey Haven Community College. I’m an instructor there, for your reference. In any case, he’s not a student of mine, but I’ve met him before and seen him at the college. Leftover tended to refer to Justin as Jeff, for some reason. I’m guessing that Leftover’s tendency to misrepresent facts, misremember things that were just told to him and ramble about the same things over and over are either a representative of his inherent personality, a product of his excessive substance abuse, or a very clever cover for a far more intelligent person in very good control of himself. Leftover had no trouble remembering my entire name, though he couldn’t stop referring to Justin as Jeff, and Leftover did ask Lena a very pointed question, that I frankly found to be slightly disturbing, during their Truth or Dare game. It had to do with killing gas station attendants…”

Katrina trails off, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as she makes a tenuous connection between the gas station that Dahlia had just mentioned when she described seeing cigar guy and cowgirl. Katrina’s eyes slowly travel over to Lena, with a light of sudden curiosity brightening them. She quickly realizes that Lena is murmuring under her breath.

The conversation in the car is excited and inquisitive. She listens to every detail, putting the puzzle together with an intellectual distance. In the center of her world floats a pair of green glowing eyes, the frantic pounding of fists, and the warm, comforting, disturbing taste of blood. The mention of his name takes her mind to Leftover, those glazed eyes brightening and focusing on her: accusing, demanding, knowing. She shivers and kneads her hands together like Lady MacBeth. “There was someone inside,” she says, softly, pleadingly. No one hears her words, but the fact that she speaks piques the attention of the others in the car.

K:“I’m sorry,” Katrina says, sounding sincerely apologetic. “I didn’t hear you. Could you say that again, please?” It is easy to read Katrina’s expression – she is very interested in what Lena has to say, and desperately sorry that she did not hear her.

Someone asks her what she said, and Lena responds by shaking her head in denial. Her left hand goes up and smooths her bangs repeatedly. “He was one of us, maybe one of my kind. He… he was red. Blood red all over. The red of hour-old blood crusting in tiny mounds over sliced open skin. With…” her eyes blaze in recollection. “With these dark capillaries of black blotchy rot spiraling out. The black tasted bitter in my eye. He knew things. Things he should not know. He was one of us, I’m telling you, maybe one of my kind.”

She leans her head back on the seat and rubs her neck rhythmically. Those green eyes stare back at her in her mind’s eye. Was that what she saw in the momentary flash of predatory focus in Leftover’s eyes?

“His aura?” Katrina asks. Her eyes widen in surprise when she realizes that Lena does not know the specific occult term. “Leftover, his…” She gestures around her own head, as if to encompass the air there, and clarifies, “The colors that surround Leftover are his aura, if that is what you are speaking of. I feel like a fool for not looking myself.”

She frowns and looks down at her lap as if scolding herself., then looks up again at Lena. Her pale blue-grey eyes are alive with excitement when she explains, “If you are describing his aura, it could mean many different things. I did not see the shade of red, unfortunately. Dark reds can mean many things, in a range from anger to outright fury, and some shades of red indicate passion or lust rather than anger. Red means dramatic emotions, regardless. Tell me, how did the black look? Ripples of black within dark red typically indicate fury, almost uncontrollable fury, which seems odd based on Leftover’s persona. Black tendrils rather than ripples indicate diablerie.”

She opens her mouth to continue, then realizes that perhaps she should explain diablerie… The excitement of discovering that she knows so many useful facts fills her voice with a hint of arrogance, the same irritating feeling of a teacher who has years of study and love invested in a subject and feels no remorse when pounding you with their wealth of knowledge. “Diablerie is one of the greatest crimes of the Camarilla. A diablerist has killed another vampire by drinking their blood as some of our kind kill their human victims. Diablerie is only allowed when done as a punishment, and the person to enforce this punishment is always the Prince or a Justicar. Diablerie is punishable by death, and if Leftover is truly a diablerist and it becomes known by the Prince, then it is likely that the Blood Hunt will be called to destroy him. It is foolish in the extreme for any Camarilla vampire to indulge in diablerie, because it stamps itself upon your aura such that anyone with the clarity of vision could see the signs of your transgressions. Unless Leftover is a complete fool, he is either Caitiff, some independent clan or Sabbat.”

D: “Hmmm… so Leftover is one of us? That’s certainly interesting to know. What about Freddie? Did you notice anything about him? And if you don’t mind playing twenty questions with me… Do you live with someone or do you sleep alone during the day?”

L: “Freddie was… oily and repulsive. Reminded me of my brother-in-law, truth be told. He’s human, or well mortal in any case. He glowed intensely with a bright green that reminded me of spring break. It was littered with these waves of purple that shifted and blended into a color that can only be described as rich moss clinging to a large rock in the middle of the Black Forest. In the center of his aura, near his heart, was a burst of red, which pulsated with his heartbeat. It was strange. I felt oddly at peace with him. Freddie is a man who wears his half-rotting heart on his sleeve. No, I have no one to watch over me when I sleep. All of that died with my body.” Her eyes become unfocused as she sinks deeper into herself. “I have been alone, really alone, since the night I was embraced. He took me. My sire that is. He stole me away from my life, took me to toy with me, and then left me with nothing but my own two hands to get me through the nights.” Her left hand settles on her lower abdomen. She thumbs her flesh there forcefully, angrily. She looks out the window and goes on, softly. “Months went by since he left me behind the very night he took me before I knew of another of our kind. The hunger was… it nearly destroyed me. It nearly destroyed those people. They were rotten, every one of them. Cruel, self-centered, terrible rotten bastards to the core. But… maybe I took some of the rot out. Drained their abscess. Cut out their necrosis. Now perhaps they can go on to let others into their hearts.” She sighed and turned her eyes again forward, listening to Katrina.

“I know nothing, nothing,” she says, shaking her head. “I can see things but I do not know what to make of them. I know nothing of the Prince nor even what the title really means. I know nearly nothing of the clans, of their powers, or even of what to make of myself. Miami? New Orleans? Grey Haven? Even these places are new to me. Everything is new and bewildering and confusing.” She looks down at her watch and looks away, distrusting its reading. “I cannot even tell you if you exist or if you are just a figment of my imagination. The only voice that really makes sense enters through my eyes but speaks directly between my ears.” The image of Mr. Buttons blazes in her mind’s eye. Poor sweet Timmy, she thinks, wrapping her mind’s arms around the childlike man’s hunched back, stroking his cheek until he feels calm and safe.

“But, my professor, I put myself through years of intense study to become a pharmacist. With time and your tutelage, perhaps I will get just enough footing on what is going on around me to get me good and dead. Deader.” She laughs deeply, cynically. “More knowledge means more confusion. The only real clarity will come with the sting of the cold blade that will finally end me. But I will take the knowledge, the confusion, the torment, the misery, the guilt, the terror. I will take them all and gladly. The fire is all there is. Without the fire there is no life. Or unlife.” Her hand presses firmly into her abdomen again, and she pulls it away, slapping it angry onto her thigh, returning her unfocused gaze to the outside.

D: “I’m just worried about Saturday. If a bunch of vampires from New Orleans and Miami show up in town things could get ugly. Those of us who usually sleep alone might want to stick together, for safety’s sake if nothing else.”

Lena panicked. She attempted to batter her way out of the locked bathroom, then she frenzied, exploding out of the room and tearing into Oscar. David and Connell struggled for control of her while Dahlia turned the open sign to closed and locked the door. She couldn’t find any light controls behind the counter so she carefully picked her way past the bloody, messy struggle to the once locked office. She shut off all the lights, including the ones for the parking lot and pumps, and then she studied the surveillance equipment. She guessed the logon information in seconds, and once she had confirmed that there was no online backup of the evening’s activities she disconnected everything and packed up every bit that she thought might be useful.
Out in the hall Lena was back in control of herself… or as much so as she e ever was. David and Connell were arguing about how to handle Oscar’s rapidly cooling corpse. Dahlia took control, sending David out into the lobby to check for passersby and gather some cleaning supplies, then supervising while Oscar and the office supplies were separately bagged. After a short discussion Dahlia went out into the parking lot to make sure that the officer next door stayed distracted. The other three snuck out to Lena’s car and stuffed Oscar into the trunk.
Connell knew a good place in the swamp to dispose of a body and the group drove out there. They fed Oscar to a gator that David attracted then took Lena to a campground shower to clean up. Dahlia called Olivia to report the murder and cover up and everyone piled back into the vehicles. After a nervous breakdown or two the four pulled into the parking lot at Pulse. They were met by the Tremere primogen and a fifth neonate wannabe was added to the group.
Inside Pulse Dahlia learned nothing from, but had a good time with, a pair of college students. David watched a man talk on his cell phone. Kat engaged a drummer student of hers in conversation and Lena challenged the student’s drug dealing, far too knowing, vampire buddy Leftover to a drinking contest. They learned that the pair hadn’t seen Amber in more than a week and that three (likely) vampire bands would be playing at the Safety Pin on Saturday night. Leftover was a part of Ripping Hammer. Wear Black Drink Red hailed from New Orleans and Burnt by the Sun was coming from Sabbat controlled Miami.
From there the group travelled to the Forbidden Fruit to speak with Amber’s boss and co-workers. Dahlia tried to make the drive there as interesting for her passengers as possible while David drove Lena’s car. Conversation with Amber’s boss got them nowhere as he had not seen her recently. They learned that some drummer hand gotten to handsy with her before she vanished, she owed her roommate a month’s rent, and that the guy in the hoodie from the gas station surveillance photo was likely her boyfriend Eddie Bohn.
Next the group went down the block to speak with Freddie Pertucci, whose name had been dropped in several conversations. Freddie was willing to chatter at the characters and sell them black market goods, but not talk about his boss or the types of ‘movies’ Amber was supposedly now starring in. He offered to give some names and contact information to the coterie if they would collect a thousand dollars from a college aged gambler named Connor who was likely watching the game at the Full Moon Saloon.

The 4 of you pull up to the service station where the surveillance photo was taken 5 days ago. It’s a Mobile station, located at the crossing of Interstates 10 and 12, right by Lake Pont. It resides in one of those toll road-esque travel plazas. It is open 24 hours, nestled in the same building as a Starbucks, Convenience Store, and Souvenir Stand. There is also a pay phone bank, and public rest rooms. Across the parking lot, where the Semi’s usually park, there is a Taco Bell, McDonalds, Burger King, and Popeye, also in one building.
You arrive shortly after midnight. Your conspicuously mismatched party steps through the sliding doors, sounding a faint “ding” as the glass parts in front of you. Behind the counter is a rather unfortunate looking man maybe in his late 30s. Brown hair, dark eyes, very mundane and nondescript. With no other customers in the store, he takes his time lazily walking from the coffee kiosk, back behind his counter. He leans heavily on the surface, thumbing through the most recent issue of Auto Trader. His eyes flicker up, groggily, falling almost immediately on the massive mountain of man that is Connell. Chewing on his toothpick, he then gives a cursory glance to Lena, then David. Obviously not wanting to stare at what appears to be a burn victim, he finished his ocular sweep with Dahlia. Perhaps spending more time then really necessary on the pretty young socialite, he rapidly immerses himself in his publication.
The air smells of cheap truck stop coffee, and there is an omnipresent hum of the overhead fluorescent lights. The clerk seems to be the only employee on duty, and there are no other patrons in the store. Outside, the roar of 18 wheelers sporadically whizzing by in the light drizzle can be heard. You get a faint sensation on your skin of moisture. The AC is working overtime to fight the humid July air.
Lena sighs as the hulk of a being exits her car at the service station. She pulls on the rearview mirror and wipes away the traces of smeared makeup. The long shift this evening and the tumultuous meeting of strangers has begun to wear her thin. She Her eyes linger on the entrance to Starbucks. The eyes of the Prince invade her thoughts; she noticed the distaste and disinterest behind the facade of friendly hospitality. No, it wouldn’t do to separate herself from these people. Doing what she is told may be the only way to stay alive.

“Alive.” Dammit. A wave of melancholy and anger rises from the quakes below as she kicks open her car door. She slams it behind her, squeezing her lips together in determination. Three more steps and she is inside the station, quivering from her rage.

You step out into the muggy night air, hot rain mists upon your skin, giving every movement a slimy malaise. Despite the head start and longer legs, Connell lags a few steps behind. You walk with determination. Slamming your car door and exclaiming verbally has drawn the attention of a middle aged man fueling up his RV. He looks at you under the brim of his fishing at momentarily, then goes back to remorsefully watching the numbers on the pump rise higher and higher.

Her eyes go first to the coffee bar, then to David, then back to the coffee kiosk. Smoothing her skirt, she walks carefully over and pours herself a 20 oz cup of the strongest brew available. She sets her cup down and pulls the pins out of her hair. Champagne blonde hair falls down in lumpy curls. She runs her fingers briefly through them and shakes them out. A few pumps of French Vanilla coffee creamer later, Lena has gone over to the cashier, taking out her wallet. She tries to make friendly conversation with the attendant, petting down her hair absentmindedly, mindfully.

“You in the market?” she asks, gesturing at the magazine playfully.

The clerk, sincerely not giving you much attention, begins to move his out of shape frame from the stool beneath him. He dog ears the page, on which he seemed to be enthralled, and exhales heavily as he waddles over to the register. With casualty, you’re sure he’s run through this scenario hundreds if not thousands of times, his eyes dart to the coffee cup and punches the same three worn out keys on his cash register. His voice is unremarkable, just enough southern draw to place him as a native. Now that you’re up closer, you see the dilapidated name tag “Oscar” on his blue vest.

“Ya might say that. Just lookin around for some extra parts really. Nev’r know when you’re gonna come across a good deal….Ugh that’s gonna be a dollar twenty seven, anyt’ing else m’am?”
Dahlia goes over to the counter, she looks for something clean to lean against, then gives up on that, tipping her self a bit over the counter she tries to catch a glimpse of the dog eared page.

“I love old cars. What are you working on?”
Almost overwhelmed, his eyes dart nervously from Lena and her casual conversation to the posh newcomer. Obviously flustered, he stammers over his words while trying to avoid any and all eye contact with Dahlia.He seems to focus on Lena’s coffee cup rather intently…
“Uhh..yeah..it’s a..ummm ’66 GTO. Competition orange. It was ma’ Paw’s. Kind of fig’red I’d give it up to mah boy someday. You ladies really into cars? Cuz, gosh, I just can’t see it.”
" ‘66 was the first year the GTO was a full fledged model rather than a tempest upgrade, wasn’t it?… Orange is a good color, not one we see all that often anymore."
“Well golly man, ya sure know your old cars. Ya just don’t seem like the type, that’s all. Anyway it’s more of a hobby than anythin’ else. They got me workin here so many hours, I hardly have time to do much else. So uhhh, ya’ll just passin through then I reckon?”
“Well, actually, my friend forgot her purse here and we were hoping someone might have turned it in.”
“Yer friend? So I guess ya’ll are from round here. Usually I get all sortsa movie types headin out east to Orlando. I just figured with you and yer assistant here…well with the body guard….”
“No, I’m a local… I have Connell because my father worries about me.”
Connell grins widely at the clerk
<<oscar>>

“Oh! Well, I like i said, I just reckon’d you were one of those. Ya know i met Gwenyth Paltrow once. She was just passing through after Mardis Gras, heading over to Orlando for some film shoot. Real nice lady, lots prettier in real life. Much more of a looker than she is in those magazines.”

<<chucks>>

“…Kinda stuck up if you ask me. ..of course…you’re not..so I’ll just shut my trap now. Well your paw must be one worryin son of a…….So uh, this friend of yers?”

“She’s my age, she has shoulder length auburn hair… a bit shorted than mine. the purse is yay big (hold my hands out to demonstrate) and shaped like (again with the hand gestures)”
<<oscar><<oscar>>

“Ye..yea….Yeah….Sure thing…ummm…Miss, uhh, An-Anna….I’m always happy to help. If I remember anything or your friend happens to turn up..I’ll ummm….Yeah I’ll give you a ring…that’s what I’ll do…”
<< Oscar listens for the door chime as Lena exits, and Dahlia strolls elegantly back in. He tucks up the Post It note and puts it in the breast pocket of his blue Dickies work shirt, just behind his name tag.>>
“So was that girl who came in here prettier than me?” Dahlia put a little bit of the flirtatious tease into her voice.
“Well ma’am, you’re pretty and all. But I guess these here belle was a different kind of pretty. You got a real nice movie star thing goin on…like I said earlier. But this’n here…””

<<oscar>>

“She was something else. Legs for days…straw cow girl hat…I’m kind of into that sort of thing you see. She musta got into a little scuffle, cuz most of her clothes were a bit ripped up. That voice she had…All I know is that shes been walkin through my mind for at least a week now.”
“Did she look through the purse then give it back to you?”
“The hand bag? Nah, she just sat there…right there….leaned up against that pop machine under the camera there….just smilin at me. We talked for a good 10 minutes er so. I told her I had one here, she didn’t seem to care too much. Seemed like a nice simple country girl, not too concerned with material things ya know? Salt of the earth type folk. Her fella, the one that wasn’t much for words, he just hung outside an chewed on a cigar. Remember her clear as day, don’t think that smile will ever leave my mind…”
And Lena forgot her coffee inside, so I suppose she will go back in for it, and to use Dementation to blunt Oscar’s emotions towards the cowgirl.
<<oscar>>
“So the guy with her didn’t come in at all?
<<oscar>>

“Oh…I dunno. I guess not. Just remember the cigar. He wasn’t smoking it or anything. What’s the point I guess. He wasn’t hurting anyone.”
Connell is planted firmly at the door. He gives off the impression, without uttering a word, that he eats rocks and shits gunpowder. He might as well be carved out of wood. Cold…dry….unfeeling. An aura of sheer aggression emanates from him, so much that, a couple wanting to stop in and grab some coffee make it within a few yards of the door, but quickly do a 180 back to their RV. You’re fairly certainly they’re doing 10 over the speed limit, back to wherever the fuck they come from. (Your stats alone justify substantial success)

Dahlia, you try your hardest and fall back upon what has worked for you in the past, from the dance clubs to the formal dinners. You’re not arrogant but you know you look stunning. You smell like heaven. You’re glad in fabrics and colors that have proven their efficacy time and time again. Your ass is so round and perfect that scientist in Europe use it to calibrate their instruments. Oscar, just seems disinterested in life right now. Whatever enthusiasm and zeal he had for helping you, or for appreciating beauty seems to have left him. The best you can do is chatter on, play cute, and obscure his view of your two companions sneaking off down the hallway.
David slithers back from the dark corner by the cooler with the burnt out like. It’s cold, its dark, and it’s very damp…a home away from home. Ever listening, he slides his arm across Lena’s lower back, and without making a sound pitter patters across the dingy tile floor to the hallway. The two casually stride to the EMPLOYEESONLY door. David’s hand wraps around the beaten up polished nickel doorknob…and discovers that it is locked.

Connell gives his new friends a sneer over his shoulder. Sensing the need for a stall
Dahlia rearranges even more clothing and takes an awkward pose to block any possible view. She then uses presence to ensure that she has the gas station attendant’s attention.
Upon reaching the locked door, the Malkvian looks to David, who’s already in deep contemplation, trying to think on his feet. David eyes the knob, and the lock…hearing the door to the Woman’s restroom glide open then close without making too much of a rucus.

Lena, you step into the dingy bathroom, which obviously hasn’t been serviced yet tonight. Only 1 step inside, you see see a typical set up. 2 stalls, 1 regular, one handicap. A set of two sinks, paper towels and an air dryer. The track lighting above you flickers on and off, partially illuminating part of the room for a fraction of a second before it repeats its erratic pattern. Aside from the dripping of water from the broken faucet, the only sound you hear is the door, locking behind you.
<<oscar>>
Lena backs against the wall, drawing her elbows in, holding her hands in little ineffectual fits palms in at her clavicle. She watches, frozen in terror, as the figure emerges. A scream boils in her chest but cannot escape. She is trapped within the stasis of her own caged body. She has no thoughts.
We return to in game actions rather than text at this point so that Lena can fail her own checks.

The dusk of the evening our coterie was presented to the Prince was a hot, muggy, particularly humid one. Each of us woke, prepared ourselves and headed out in a way we found fitting.

Dahlia woke lightly wrapped in silken sheets. She traded those for the gentle caress of a robe for the short time it took her to walk to the bath that had been prepared for her. As she soaked in the tub her Retainer, Vivienne, went over her engagements of the day. She dined on her property manager after he apologized for the broken air conditioner, and then prepared herself for her meeting with the Prince. Her Retainer did her hair and make-up, she donned an evening gown, and she drove her favorite car to the Prince’s mansion, where the letters PB adorned the gates.

David walked to the affair, following her Sire through the sewers. While they walked they talked… mostly about what it meant to be a vampire and a part of the Camarilla.

Lena worked her normal shift at the pharmacy then drove to a gas station to change into her party wear. While there she was harassed by something invisible playing with the lights and the water. It left some nuts for her on the sink and jammed the door closed. She had to climb out the bathroom window, and she was late to the party.

Connell was sitting on his front porch when his Sire arrived to pick him up. The two drove to the party together while Dylan spoke about one of his many wives and told a story about twins. He seemed worried that Connell would have regrets about his new life style. He also mentioned that the Gangrel are few now. Once known for their loyalty they chose the wrong side in a conflict a few years ago, and are no longer really a part of the Camarilla.

Once at the mansion each of the party members interacted with a gate guard, a pair of door guards and the Whip Julian Bontemps. They were lead into a ball room where they waited for their summons to meet the Prince and interacted to some extent with the various members of the court. Once summoned before the Prince they walked into an arboretum centered around a statue of John the Baptist and were assigned the mission of recovering a picture of the mayor screwing a stripper with the stage name of Belladonna. One of the Nos handed the Prince a file of information which the Prince gave to the coterie. It contained an information sheet describing the stripper, Amber Campbell, and four pictures. Mayor Scumbag, her with a stripper pole and a pulse wrist band, her leaving her purse behind at a gas station, her with her car (stolen 2 weeks ago) between Grey Haven and New Orleans, a close up of her face without her necklace.

The Prince hurried on his way, clearly consumed with other matters, perhaps thinking that this attempt to enlarge their numbers by having each of the Primogen choose a childe would fail as the last one did. The coterie wandered back out into the main hall where everyone was rapidly leaving, then headed outside to take their leave and start their mission.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.